Disappointment was felt Thursday across five states as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it was listing the lesser prairie chicken as “threatened,” a step below “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act.

The listing is expected to take effect about May 1, 30 days after publication of the final rule and final special rule in the Federal Register.

With Thursday’s announcement, the clock began ticking for those who have not enrolled in a conservation plan, part of an effort by five states and industries that saw about 4 million acres enrolled and $21 million raised to help conserve the grouse in hopes of preventing the listing.

“Companies now have 30 additional days to enroll in a Range-wide Conservation Plan or a Candidate Conservation Agreement (in New Mexico),” said Ben Shepperd, president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association. “Everyone with an interest in these areas needs to take a look. We feel they’ll find it more palatable than going to the Fish and Wildlife Service for permission to drill a well.”

While he said he had a feeling Fish and Wildlife Director Dan Ashe was leaning toward the listing, he was still extremely disappointed because industry and landowners across five states had shown a commitment to conserving the bird through the Range-wide Conservation Plan developed by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

“We feel the decision is actually a loss for the bird,” Shepperd continued. “Our efforts were more effective, we feel, than the federal listing.”

More than 40 companies had enrolled acreage in the plan, including Occidental Petroleum, which enrolled 1.8 million acres and contributed more than $12 million over three years in an effort to conserve the lesser prairie-chicken.

In a statement, the company said it is “disappointed by the decision to list the lesser prairie chicken as threatened despite the voluntary efforts undertaken by the five states and industry to conserve this species under the Range-Wide Conservation Plan. We applaud the work done to develop this plan, as it provides significant protection for the species while allowing plan enrollees to continue operations. We believe Oxy’s substantial voluntary commitment to preserve the lesser prairie-chicken through the Range-Wide Conservation Plan will allow our business activities to continue across the affected area. “

Carter Smith, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department executive director, and president of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), said he is disappointed in the decision, given the effort to craft the range-wide plan.

“We are justifiably proud that 32 companies, particularly in the oil and gas sector, have voluntarily committed to enroll more than 3.5 million acres and provide more than $21 million to conserve prairie chicken habitat, as part of a comprehensive, science-based conservation strategy under the range-wide plan. Our focus now is to continue implementing the plan, recover the species and thus facilitate the bird’s removal from the federal threatened and endangered species list. In that regard, we appreciate the service’s commitment to using the range-wide plan as the ultimate blueprint for recovery.”

Bill Van Pelt, grasslands manager with WAFWA, also cited the tremendous effort his agency had put into developing the conservation plan.

“We felt that was such a tremendous response from industry and the public that the service would take that into consideration,” he said. And the service did, he said, but still listed the bird as threatened.

Still, he felt Thursday’s announcement marks a paradigm shift in endangered species recovery because the Fish and Wildlife Service, under rule 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act, will allow the five states covered by the bird’s habitat — Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado — to continue managing recovery efforts for the bird. He cited the partnership of the five states and industry as having a positive impact on how the Endangered Species Act will be implemented.

“This is a new way of doing things,” he said. “By being proactive, we now have a road map of how to get the bird off the list, how we want the population to grow. This is truly a local solution to a national issue. They’re relying on local communities to save this bird.”

The conservation plan has a goal of growing the population to 67,000, up from a record low of 17,616 in 2012, something Van Pelt believes can be accomplished in the next 10 years. “There are species that have been listed since the 1970s that still haven’t reached their goal,” he pointed out.

It will serve as a flagship effort that will benefit other threatened species, he said.

Shepperd expressed concern that Thursday’s announcement would have an effect on efforts to protect other species, citing the greater sage grouse, whose habitat covers 11 western states.

Industries, he said, were watching how the efforts to prevent the lesser prairie-chicken listing were received. “This will have a chilling effect on cooperation,” he predicted. “The process needs to be reformed if economic development and conservation are to coexist.”